Beware the Unknown
by MoonlightAngel131
Summary: The crew is going on a mission once again, but this time on an unfamiliar planet. From quick research, everything looks normal and safe. However, they'll soon learn what grows on this planet is not always as harmless as it looks.
1. Chapter 1

AN: Hello! I'm back for another story. This is just an idea that randomly popped in my head. Hope you like it!

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars Rebels, but maybe one day, if I win a whole lot of money through some random contest I didn't know I entered, I will! :)

* * *

The sun wasn't even up when everyone met up in the common room for a briefing on the mission they were going on. Everyone knew they were having it, and that they were going to a new planet, but none of them had heard much more about it. Hera said their contact had reassured it was safe and similar to planets they were used to. The crew did minimal research on their own too, and it seemed like it had a regular climate as well as ordinary plants and animals.

So here they were, awake before the sun was, discussing _another_ mission.

Hera was leading the briefing, so when it seemed like she had everyone's attention, she decided to begin. "Okay everyone, this is supposed to be a quick op. We are just here to do our business and leave as soon as it's done. Just in and out," explained Hera.

"In and out? Ha! When is it ev'r in and out?" Zeb cut in before she could continue. "Zeb, don't be rude," Sabine smirked, playfully hitting him in the arm. Hera raised a warning eyebrow at Zeb before continuing. "Now, we have heard from a source that the empire has just built a new base storing many important files on this planet, Venefirous." She began.

"And this source is...?" Sabine interrogated.

"Not important. But what _is_ important is this mission, so pay attention. We do not know the exact location of this base, so we will need to search the planet. To cover more ground we will split up into groups. Ezra and Sabine, you will check the northwest side. You will need to cut through the forest so be careful and on the look out for any imperial guards. Kanan and Zeb will check southeast. If you find the base, call us on your communicators so the other group knows to stop their search and go back to the ship. Each of you will carry explosives for when the base is found. We will use them to destroy it and any files that the empire may use against us. I will stay here on the Ghost for a quick get away. Any questions?"

"Wha' about Chopper?" asked Zeb. "That bucket of bolts has to do something for once."

"You mean besides making you look like an idiot?" Ezra teased and received a punch in the arm in return. He grabbed his arm and glared at Zeb.

"Chopper has some repairs to do back on the ship with me," Hera justified and everyone went quiet again. "Ok!" Kanan clapped his hands and jumped up breaking the silence and startling everyone. "Let's get going, we are wasting daylight."

"Day light? The sun hasn't even risen yet," mumbled Ezra, who promptly tried to stifle a yawn.

The five gradually stood up and walked out to the ramp. Just as they had hoped, the sun was just rising, allowing for a full day of light if needed. Hera stood behind and watched the four split into groups and start their search. When they were out of sight, she went back inside to find Chopper.

* * *

The two teens began their search going through the forest of various plants, trees and vines like Hera had ordered. There was no direct path, so they ended up curving in and out of the trees and branches. Sabine lead as Ezra trailed a few inches behind.

"So..." Ezra tried to break the awkward silence.

Sabine sighed, "Yeah?"

"Umm, what's... up?" Sabine raised an eyebrow and looked back at him. "Is that really the best conversation starter you can think of?" she teased, ducking under a low tree branch.

Ezra looked away and saddened slightly. "Hey, well I never used to have many direct conversations back on Lothal," he defended with a hint of anger laced in his voice. "There was no one to have one with, if you don't count the bucket heads that is," He muttered.

Sabine almost immediately regretted opening her mouth. Of course he didn't have many conversations! It was probably really hard to talk to anyone while living on your own in the streets. He probably wouldn't know many ways to start a regular, friendly conversation.

"I'm sorry." She said and kept walking, looking straight ahead embarrassed. The two continued walking in silence.

* * *

"So do you think it was smart to let the two kids go alone together?" Kanan wondered.

Zeb laughed. "Oy wha', you think they'll get romantic on you or something?"

Kanan looked at Zeb embarrassed. "No! No, not like that!" he quickly defended. Zeb laughed again. "I know, I know, jus' teasin' you."

"But sending them through the forest. Isn't it dangerous? They don't know what could be in there." Kanan grew serious once again. Zeb saw Kanan's concern and tried to reassure him.

"They'll be fine, don't worry so much. Hera said this planet was safe, so there shouldn't be any reason for it to be dangerous. Even if anything happened they won't be too far from the Ghost right?" Kanan didn't looked convinced.

"I just have a bad feeling about this."

* * *

AN: Well, I hope that wasn't too bad, and I really hope you enjoyed it so far. Also, if you have read my story, It's Nothing, I have a question for you. I have gotten a few requests for another chapter, so do you think I should or not? Either review or pm me your opinion. Thank you for reading, and of course please review!


	2. Chapter 2

Hey guys, sorry I took so long to get this chapter up! On with the story!

Disclaimer: I (sadly) do not own Star Wars Rebels.

At the "Imperial base", Agent Kallus sat in wait for the rebels with an excited smirk. Truth be told, the so called _base_ was actually a trap set up for them. Kallus knew that if the rebels heard of a new base they would come and check it out to get rid of it.

But of course, the base was not an actual base, and there were certainly no important files in it. It had actually been an abandoned factory in which the empire had redesigned into a makeshift scientific laboratory. This laboratory had aided them greatly in setting up the perfect trap to finally end the darn rebels.

Earlier in the month, scientists had been hired to genetically modify ordinary plants to make them lethal weapons. After many tests and experiments, they finally made the perfect plant. The plant turned out better than they expected, and grew increasingly quicker than normal.

After about a week, the scientists discovered that the plant seemed to be more 'alive' than it should be. It seemed to be smart and had been able to quickly move on its own. Trying to test its ability, they had proven it could stretch and maneuver its vines and had the nature to kill.

Best of all, the plant can inject a special poison that can be a force inhibitor to force users and a poison to non users. It has the ability to block a force users connection with the force temporarily, as well as cause harmful symptoms. The poison takes effect within about 15 minutes. It would seem as if the person's force signature was nonexistent.

The only negative is that the person will only receive the effects of it if it is injected directly into their bloodstream.

Kallus grinned again recollecting the success in making this plant. They had grown it all over the planet, so there was no doubt the rebels would be stopped by it. He would finally have his success in ending them.

His thoughts were interrupted as a young voiced trooper stormed into the room.

"Sir, we have word that the rebels have landed on the planet and have begun their search."

Agent Kallus laughed evily. "Excellent."

* * *

Ezra and Sabine continued walking a while in an uncomfortable silence through the woods. As they went deeper into them, the trees seemed to grow taller and thicker and there were many vines stretching among them. It was gradually getting harder to avoid these plants.

Ezra kept looking down, feeling bad about snapping at Sabine. He really thought he should apologize. She didn't really consider it, and it wasn't her fault. He shouldn't have gotten angry.

However, just as he was about to apologize, he heard something rustle to his left. Before he could see what it was, he felt something jab forcefully into his arm.

"Ow!" He grabbed his arm and turned to see what hit him. However, all he saw was vines.

"Hey kid, you okay?" Sabine asked without looking back at him.

"Uh, yeah." Ezra replied, deciding it was nothing. He must have just bumped into a thorn or something. Pushing the thought aside and ignoring his arm, he refocused on the task at hand.

Sabine led them for about another ten minutes before getting frustrated. The forest seemed to go on forever and they were getting no where. Everything looked the same and there was no sign any base had been built in miles of here. She stopped walking and decided to call the others to see if they made any progress.

"Why'd we stop?" Ezra questioned from behind her.

"We aren't getting anywhere! I'm just going to call the others an see if they found anything yet," she sighed.

She reached for her communicator but was shocked to find it wasn't in its place. She must have dropped it or something! This was so frustrating!

"Ugh, Ezra, can I use your communicator? I... I must have dropped mine somewhere."

"Sure," Ezra grabbed his and reached out to give it to her. It was then he noticed the blood seeping down his arm from when he was jabbed. He didn't even notice it before now!

"Ezra, your arm!" Sabine gasped as she saw the blood too.

"Um.. I g-guess I hit it... on a... thorn?" he tried to explain, suddenly feeling unfocused and dizzy. He started to feel weak on his feet and tried to lean against the nearest tree.

"A-are you okay?" Sabine asked, starting to panic.

Ezra tried to answer but found himself becoming to weak to stand anymore. He slowly slid down the tree trunk till he reached the floor so he wouldn't fall over. Suddenly Sabine was kneeling right in front of him. It seemed like she was yelling things at him, but he wasn't sure. He couldn't hear her anymore. Everything seemed so far away. The last thing he saw was Sabine's panicked face before he blacked out.

* * *

It happened so suddenly. One minute it was there and the next it was gone. Kanan stopped dead in his tracks and immediately became deadly worried.

"No, no, no, no!" He shouted, catching the attention of Zeb.

"Kanan?"

"It's gone! Wait, no it can't be! What happened! Where is it! No, no, no!" Kanan exclaimed in a panic, eyes searching back and forth unfocused.

"Kanan what's wrong!" Zeb yelled, but Kanan didn't seem to hear. He continued muttering quickly in a panic, seemly lost in his mind.

"Kanan!" Zeb slapped him out of his panicked daze. Kanan looked at him with pure fear in his eyes.

"Wha' is it!" Zeb prodded urgently.

"I-it's Ezra's force signature. I-it's...gone."

AN: Dun Dun DUNNNN. Sorry to leave you guys hanging. Hopefully I'll get the next chapter up really soon. (haha me, don't kid yourself. You hope to at least get it up before summer is over.) XD Uhh well, I'll try my best! But hey, if you guys review I'll be more inspired... hint hint nudge nudge. :D


	3. Chapter 3

AN: Hey guys, well the summer's not quiteee over yet! Apparently this is my brain's idea of "soon". Sorry I made you wait so long, but I went on vacation in the mountains with no wifi. Please don't hate me! T-T

* * *

"Gone!? W-wha's that mean?" Zeb raised an eyebrow, fearful of what Kanan was about to say.

"It means, Ezra is either deeply unconscious or..." Kanan trailed off refusing to finish the sentence. "I have to call Sabine! His force signature should not have disappeared completely!" Kanan cried, scrambling to find his communicator. Except his communicator wasn't there.

"What the heck? Where is my com?!" Kanan frantically searched once more.

"Maybe I dropped it? Quick, we don't have time, can I use yours?!" Kanan asked Zeb.

Zeb nodded understanding the severity of the situation and reached to grab his, but was also greeted with nothing.

"Wha's going on here! How did we both lose ours? We couldn't 'ave both dropped 'em!" Zeb growled, searching the ground nearby. "Err wha'ever, if we dropped them they have to be aroun' here somewhere!" He saw the gleam of metal from what he assumed was the com out of the corner of his eyes, but by the time he turned there was nothing there. However, he did notice a plant vine swaying gently as if it had just moved. He found this curious, but before he could examine further he heard Kanan's voice behind him.

"Zeb! We don't have time! We have no way to communicate with the others now, and we have no idea what is going on! Ezra and Sabine must be in trouble! There's no explanation to how Ezra's force signature just... vanished. Hopefully it's not too late already!" Kanan stressed angrily.

"Calm down and think clearly, or we will never get anywhere!" Zeb yelled back.

Kanan sighed and took a deep breath. "Yeah you're right. I'm sorry, I'm just stressing out."

"A'right, I think our best bet is to head back to the Ghost. 'era will be there, and we can try to reach them to see wha' happened. So a-are you sure you can't sense Ezra... at all? Not even a little?"

"Yeah, I-I don't know why. It feels cold and empty, almost like a part of me is now lost or missing. To be honest, it terrifies me. I only really can think of two reasons for it and neither are good. We have to reach them as fast as possible or there may be no chance to help," Kanan replied urgently.

Zeb agreed and the two quickly darted in the direction back towards the ghost.

* * *

Sabine stood in shock as Ezra suddenly collapsed to the ground. Without wasting another moment, she rushed down in front of him to help. However, she could tell he was losing focus and was about ready to go unconscious.

"Ezra, come on stay with me! What happened? Please stay awake!" She yelled in panic, unsure of exactly what to do.

Ezra didn't seem to understand and was fading fast. She tried to gently shake him to keep his attention but to no avail. Just moments later he went unconscious.

Sabine was almost in full blown panic mode, but she realized she had to keep her head clear. She checked his pulse and was at least relieved to find it was still there. She had no idea what happened or what she should do. Taking a deep breath to try to clear her head, she searched her mind for a solution.

She had no clue why Ezra had suddenly fainted and figured she should examine further. Gently picking up his arm and rolling up the sleeve slowly, she tried to find out why he was bleeding. Immediately, she saw three inflamed pricks that looked as if they came from a sharp needle or plant thorns.

"That must be it! Plant thorns!" she thought out loud.

Although, the way the wound was given looked like someone had skillfully injected the object directly into his bloodstream. Of course, it had to have been a coincidence since a plant wouldn't have the ability to do that.

It was just the precise positioning that bugged her.

She wanted to know what kind of plant could do this, but she couldn't think of a plant that had three thorns arranged in this pattern. But, the major question was why he collapsed. Her mind was drawing a blank, and she felt so helpless!

He was continuously getting paler, and his breaths were shallower. She felt his pulse again, and became fearful once more. It was a lot weaker than before.

She was having a hard time figuring out why he was having this reaction until it suddenly hit her. Ezra had been stabbed by some kind of unknown plant, and it hit deep enough to draw blood. That meant if it was a kind of poisonous plant then the poison would have gone right into his blood.

'Why didn't I think of that sooner! I'm so stupid!' She mentally scolded herself.

Not really knowing what to do now, she realized that she should call the others and get help quickly. With her communicator lost, she frantically searched the ground for Ezra's, as she put it down when she went to examine him. Luckily, she found it on the ground to her left.

Snatching it up, she tried Kanan first.

'Specter 5 to specter 1, please come in. We have a problem!" She exclaimed.

No one answered.

Worried, she quickly tried Zeb as well. Still, no one answered.

Desperate and losing hope, she finally called Hera. She spoke into the com and held her breath in wait for an answer.

"Specter 5, what is it? Are you both okay?" Hera's voice finally sounded on her com after what felt like nearly cried of relief until she remembered that the battle wasn't over yet.

"Hera! Thank goodness! It'sEzra,hegotprickedbysomeplantandnowhe'sunconsciousbecausemyguessistheplantwaspoisonousandI'mfreakingoutbecauseIdon'tknowwhattodo and Kanan and Zeb aren't answering their coms and..." Sabine unloaded everything at once until Hera cut her off.

"Sabine breathe! Just calm down. What do you mean Kanan and Zeb aren't answering there coms?"

Sabine did as she was told and took a deep breath before continuing.

"I mean exactly that. I tried calling them and neither one answered. I'm worried about that too but I kind of need to focus on the unconscious one in front of me first!" She replied.

"Unconscious! What happened? This time, tell me slower and calmer so I can understand."

"Okay, so we were walking along and then I got frustrated because we were getting nowhere so I tried to call you on my com. However, my com wasn't there because I must of dropped it or something so I asked to borrow Ezra's. When he was handing it to me I noticed his arm was bleeding. He seemed to notice at the same time I did, but suddenly he looked like he was about to faint. His legs gave out and he collapsed to the floor and went unconscious. It looks like he was pricked by some kind of plant and I think it might have been poisonous."

"Oh my gosh! Okay, did you check to see if there were any thorns or needles left in the wound?"

"Umm no, hang on let me check." Sabine moved to examine his arm better. The three pricks were getting red and swollen, and she could not tell if there were any thorns in them. It didn't look like it ,but she couldn't be certain.

"Hera? It doesn't look like it but it's getting really red and swollen so it's hard to tell."

Sabine heard a saddened sigh through the com. "You really need to find some way to clean the wound out. If it was poisonous, you can't really do anything until we know what it was from. Washing it out as best as possible will keep it from getting infected and possibly wash out some of the poison. But you need to hurry." Hera tried as best as she could to help, although without being there, she couldn't do much.

"I know Hera, but I don't know where to find a place to wash it out! I don't have anything with me to help. Is there a river or anything?" Sabine questioned.

"I think I saw one on the map that ran along the edge of the forest probably not too far from you. It would be best if you could get to it, but I wouldn't recommend moving Ezra unless you can carefully lift him or he gets up and can use you as support to walk. Keep in touch. I'm going to try to get through to the others. Call me as soon as you decide if you can get to the river or not. If you get there and I come in contact with the others, I can have them follow the course of the river to get to you."

"Thanks Hera, I will. Specter 5 out..." Sabine sighed. She wished she was someone else. Someone more experienced who knew exactly what to do in these situations. For once, she just felt so tired and weak.

"It's okay Ezra. You're going to be okay," she whispered mostly to herself. "I'm sorry."

* * *

AN: Soooo any thoughts? Questions? Forgiveness? :D Please review!


	4. Chapter 4

AN: Hey guys... DON'T KILL ME! I'm so sorry it's been so long! I'm not dead, I swear, not yet anyway. School started and work piled up right away and sports started, leaving me with no time at all. Literally I haven't actually had any time to myself for the past month. I've been coming home so late, doing school work and going to bed at 2 or later everyday. I'm so sleep deprived and stressed. More likely I'm gonna be updated a lot less frequently for a while. Sorry again guys, on with the story.

* * *

Kanan and Zeb walked back to the Ghost as fast as they could. Although, it was taking them a lot longer than either of them would have liked. For some reason they kept making wrong turns. They would pass a landmark that they remembered along the trail as if they were getting closer, then they would find themselves back where they came from.

It didn't make sense! They followed the trail back along the many plants surrounding them, just like they did to get there. It was almost like the plants had moved and lead them in a circle, but that couldn't be possible.

After the fifth time of finding themselves back where they started, they stopped and took a moment to figure out what was going on.

"A'right we definitely came from this way right?" Zeb sighed frustrated.

"I'm almost positive. I feel like something is doing this purposely. It may sound weird, but I feel like something has been watching us this whole time." Kanan explained.

"Well yeah... sounds just a little crazy. We're in the middle of a forest. What's doing this and watching us? The plants?" Zeb laughed.

Kanan smirked, but actually considered the possibility. He doubted the plants were actually the cause of them getting lost though. That would mean they would have had to somehow move quickly with a mind of their own.

"Yeah, you're right. It's probably nothing. You just suck at direction." Kanan teased.

"Hey! I was followin' you."

"Yeah sure you were," he laughed.

"Which way should we go now then? Can't you use your forcey powers or something?" Zeb wondered.

"Zeb you know it doesn't work that way. I don't know. I don't want to split up because we won't find each other again, but we aren't getting anywhere."

"Yeah I noticed." Zeb said sacastically.

"We should definitely stick together. Maybe we should..." Kanan didn't get to finish his sentence, as he got distracted by something moving behind Zeb.

"Zeb look out!" Kanan yelled as he reached for his lightsaber. Zeb whipped around as the figure came in to focus, and they saw it was a large, thick vine. The vine moved closer to Zeb and wound its way around his leg, then retreated forcing Zeb off balance. "Gah! Kanan!" Zeb exclaimed in shock and worry, as he was yanked to the ground. He struggled but the vine was too strong, so he couldn't break free.

"Could use that lightsaber right now!" He yelled, being dragged across the forest floor. Kanan quickly activated it and ran to slice the vine. However, slicing it turned out to do pretty much nothing. The only damage it caused was a thin line on the surface.

"What!?" Kanan kept trying to cut it in half to almost no avail. It was hard to keep moving along with it. Finally, getting frustrated, Kanan stabbed it through the middle, cutting clear through. The vine slowed and Kanan did this a few more times until it severed in half. The part holding on to Zeb then shriveled up, allowing for him to break free. He scrambled away and got up next to Kanan and brushed himself off slightly embarrassed.

"What the 'ell was that thing!" he grumbled.

"What was preventing us from getting to the Ghost I'm sure. This isn't good, and we have to be careful. What if that's what got Sabine and Ezra?"

"We'll think about tha' once we are back on the Ghost. Right now we 'ave to focus on getting there."

Kanan nodded. "This time, we're making our own path."

* * *

Sabine kneeled momentarily with her head down until she realized how she was acting.

'What am I doing? You shouldn't be acting like this. Stoping being a baby and help Ezra now!" She thought.

After her moment of weakness, Sabine finally pulled herself together and got a grip on reality. In less than five minutes, she transformed from her panicked, stressed state into completely calm and focused. There was no time to sit and get upset.

Standing up, Sabine knew she needed to first find the river and get Ezra to it. The question was, which way was it?

"Ezra, you stay...put..." She directed. "Wait, what am I saying? He can't hear me! Besides, if he was conscious and could, he wouldn't listen anyway." She muttered to herself.

Taking one last glance at Ezra, she picked a direction to peek in first. Deciding on the left, she stepped over vines and roots to check for the river. She moved a few paces, constantly looking back over her shoulder protectively to Ezra. She didn't want to go too far, and she definitely wasn't about to let him out of her sight. She just wanted to see if she could get close enough to hear or see the rushing waters.

After walking a few meters without any sign of a river, Sabine decided to try going right instead. She went quickly back to where she left Ezra and checked up on him again.

He still didn't look like he would budge, so she continued to the right. She walked about the same distance but still saw nothing.

She was just about ready to give up when thought she heard the faith sound of running water. Taking another moment of complete silence, she could tell there was some body of water just a little farther away.

Excited with her success, she ran to Ezra. Although, she realized she still had the more difficult challenge ahead. She had no idea how she was going to be able to get him there.

She thought about her options, and immediately realized carrying him was out. There was just no way it'd be possible. Even if she was strong enough, it'd be too hard and awkward to hold him for the trip.

Drag him? Yeah, definitely not. She'd end up killing him. He'd probably bang into everything last rock or tree root in the forest.

So, what other choice was there?

She crouched down in front of Ezra for about the millionth time. Why did this have to happen? She felt Ezra's forehead to make sure his wound had not already become badly infected. Luckily, she found that it wasn't.

Sabine felt Ezra stir weakly under her touch. "Ezra?" She gently cooed. Sure enough, Ezra slowly opened his eyes, blinking a few times to adjust to the light. His eyes finally focused, and he seemed to slowly become aware of his surroundings. Snapping out from his dazed look, he shot up with a gasp, as his electric blue eyes widened.

"It's gone!" He yelled in fear and panic.

"Woah, woah, Ezra calm down. It's okay." Sabine whispered soothingly.

Ezra turned his head so that he was looking directly into her eyes. She almost became fearful herself, seeing the horror that filled them. "No! Sabine you don't understand! It's gone! How can it be gone? It couldn't have just disappeared. I can't sense it, I feel so empty. There's nothing, not a trace. Like part of me is gone! I don't know what's happening! "

"Shh Ezra what's gone. What is it?"

"It's...It's the force! The force is gone..? I...w-what do I do?" Ezra sunk back sullenly, all panic draining away only leaving emptiness. To Sabine, it looked as if all his energy left him in an instant.

"Ezra, it's okay. I'm so sorry, I have no idea what to do or why this is happening more than you do. But, we'll get through this together. I promise." She spoke confidently and reassuringly.

Ezra glanced up and nodded, still looking pained and melancholy.

"How do you feel?"

"Fine... Drained and empty, but fine," he muttered softly.

"You don't have to lie to me, I can see your in pain."

"Alright, alright. My arm hurts like hell, my head is pounding, and I'm a bit dizzy but I'll live." he sighed in defeat.

Sabine nodded understanding. "Do you think you could walk?"

He took a moment but then nodded. "I might... Um... if it's okay of course... need support?" he blushed.

Sabine smiled and extended a hand out to him. "Of course."

He gratefully took it and stood up slowly.

He reached his arm over her shoulder to use her as support. Taking it slow, they started off in the direct of the river.

"So Sabine, where are we actually heading?"

"Oh yeah I guess I never mentioned. The river. We need to get your arm cleaned out so it doesn't get infected."

"Oh, right. I'm sorry."

Sabine stopped at his words and looked at him. "For what?" She said surprised.

"For always causing trouble, for making you worry, for ruining the mission, for everything," he looked at the ground, suddenly becoming very interested in it.

"Ezra, look at me. Hey, you have no reason to be sorry. You can't control everything. It's not like you purposely got hurt, right? Nothing that happened is your fault. It's okay. If anything, I should be the one to apologize."

Ezra returned the surprise. "You? Why?"

"If I hadn't be so inconsiderate and rude to you when you were only trying to start a conversation, I would have noticed when you got hurt before it got bad. It's my fault. I'm sorry."

"But I shouldn't have snapped at you. You didn't really think about it and didn't know. It's okay. How 'bout we just agree we both had faults and forgive each other?" Ezra suggested.

"Sounds good to me. So we're good?"

"Definitely."

* * *

AN: Hey, on the note of forgiveness... If you're forgiving and you know it click review *click click*


	5. Chapter 5

AN: Hello my lovelies! Since I've kind of been all over the place with updates and generally leave you waiting a while, I figured I should make this chapter a bit longer. Please, as always, enjoy!

* * *

There it was. The little clearing with the Ghost was the best thing Kanan and Zeb could have seen. It took what felt like _forever_ to figure out their way based on their surroundings alone. They hardly had any idea which direction to look first when they set out again. Not long beforehand, it was starting to even seem impossible to ever find the ship. But none of that mattered now that they had arrived.

The two raced to the ship's entrance, yelling for Hera as loud as they could in hopes that she'd hear them and open the hatch. Surely enough, after a few moments the door was open and out came Hera with a slightly relieved yet undoubtedly still worried look on her face. Zeb and Kanan walked up the ramp to meet her.

"What happened to you two! Are you okay? Where are your communicators? Why weren't..." Hera unloaded strictly before being cut off by Kanan. "Hera slow down! Our communicators are lost, possibly dropped or... taken? I know you must be confused, but we're fine. Although, Zeb here was almost abducted by a plant. I'll explain better later, but all you need to know for now is that the plants here aren't very friendly."

Realization was added to the expressions on Hera's face. "The plants? What about them?" She pressed, raising an eyebrow in wait for an explanation.

Kanan sighed in frustration as if he was late for something and was anxious to leave. "We aren't sure what kind of plant it is, but something was lurking around, disorienting us. We almost couldn't find our way back here. Also, some vine nearly dragged Zeb across the planet. We need to get in contact with Sabine and Ezra and warn them about it. Something's wrong Hera. Did you get in contact with them? Did something happen?"

Hera's face became serious. "Sabine called in not to long ago pretty panicked. Yes, something happened... to Ezra. He's hurt. I'm not exactly sure what happened, but she did mention something about a plant that potentially injected him with some kind of poison. I told her she needs to find a way to clean the wound out, at least for the time being, before it gets infected. She's headed to the river not far from their position. I told her I would try to get in touch with you two and send you there to find them."

Kanan nodded, listening to every word she was saying closely. He was worried about his padawan before, but now his worry had tripled. Ezra was injected by something unknown and now Kanan could not sense him. This was bad, very bad. "Hera, we need to set out right away. Where is the river? We can follow it downstream to find them."

Hera maneuvered around Kanan to a pile of papers behind him, sifting through until she found the paper she had been looking for. She grabbed it and handed it to Kanan.

"That's a general map of the area. I found it after you guys left. It's not very detailed but it shows the river there." She pointed down to a blue line running across the map. "You should be able to get there from here. Bring a med kit too."

Kanan nodded. "Come on Zeb, let's go!"

"Yeah mate, let's just take the map this time and _not_ get lost."

* * *

'Almost there!' Sabine thought to herself. She was going to get Ezra out of this no matter what. She tighten her grip around him slightly and reassuringly, but he didn't notice. She glanced at him in uncertainty. "Ezra?"

Ezra seemed somewhat off. He was drifting, and although he was maintaining consciousness, he lacked total awareness of his surroundings. Occasionally, he swayed a little and leaned more heavily on Sabine. It was almost like he couldn't keep his guard up. But really, who could blame him. Sabine was half surprised he could even walk after passing out so suddenly.

When she got no reply from him, she tried to get his attention again. "Hey kid, you with me?" she asked a little louder, stopping in her tracks. Ezra stopped as well and suddenly turned to her. "Hmm?" he snapped out of his daze.

"I'll take that as a no. Are you okay? We can take a break if you need," she suggested. Ezra was half out of it, but still shook his head no. Stubborn as always.

Sabine sighed. "Ezra don't push yourself. We can stop for a minute and then continue."

Ezra stared for a moment, sighed, then nodded slightly. He glanced at the floor invitingly and threw himself down on the ground to sit, almost comically. "See, I knew we should stop." Sabine chuckled faintly. Ezra had pretty much stopped talking too, which just proved he felt weak.

Sabine joined him on the floor, sitting next to him. She reached over without him noticing and felt his forehead again. He jumped at her touch as if he never noticed she even joined him on the floor, and nearly scooted away from her. "H-hey, what are you doing. I'm... fine." He lied defensively.

She sighed at this. From what Sabine could feel in the short time she had to check him, he seemed a bit warmer than before. Not good. She could have either been mistaken or an infection was already manifesting. They had to at least clean his arm out and fast.

"Ezra, are you sure you're okay to continue?" Sabine asked, sounding a bit urgent. After resting a while, he seemed to be a little more focused. "Yeah, let's go," he said, his voice a little hoarse. She stood up and watched as he slowly pushed himself off the ground. She was glad he at least gained a little energy.

However, just as they were about to continue, Sabine heard something move behind them. She turned around startled, causing Ezra to do the same. A large vine came gliding quickly towards her. "What the..." was all she got out before the vine wrapped itself around her leg and then continued to wrap around her torso. "Ezra!" she cried, trying to squirm out of its grip. Ezra reached for his light saber dizzily but by the time he got it, Sabine was being lifting into the air by it. Ezra shot at it with the blaster part of his light saber but it had almost no effect. It pulled her backwards into the trees and she nearly vanished behind them. "Sabine!" Ezra started after her but it was too late. She had already disappeared into trees.

Ezra was so confused; what happened? He was half praying that he was hallucinating. He rubbed his eyes to be sure, but when he opened them, she wasn't standing there like he had hoped. She was gone. He wanted to go after her, but there was no way he could catch up.

His mind was still majorly unclear and his vision foggy. Sabine had said to go somewhere important right? _'The river you idiot!'_ He remembered, feeling stupid he almost forgot. Okay but why were they going there again? He couldn't think straight anymore and raised a hand to his head. As he moved his arm, pain shot through it. _'Oh yeah, that's why,'_ he groaned.

He wanted to do more to help Sabine, but for once he realized he would be no help right now. Sabine had been right, he had been pushing himself. He figured at the time that he would be fine since he had Sabine to lean on if he needed. But now that she was gone, he didn't even know if he could make it to the river.

But he had too. It was the only way to find the others and help Sabine.

He turned around to continue on, but as soon as he did, dizziness took over him and his vision blacked out temporarily. He closed his eyes and quickly put his hand on the nearest tree to steady himself until it passed.

This was going to be a challenge.

Once he was sure he wasn't about to tumble over, he slowly stepped forward. After taking a few steps more without another dizzy spell, he figured it was safe to trek on. Although, after about a minute, his head grew heavier and more clouded. He was right, without anyone to lean on, he was struggling to continue on.

Resting a moment again leaning on a tree, the thought occurred to him that he wouldn't make it there.

 _'No, I have to. I will make it!'_ He resisted the urge to give up.

In determination he stood up straight and kept walking. As he grew closer, he could hear the sound of the gushing waters growing louder. Before long they sounded mere feet away.

 _'Almost there. Come on, don't give up now.'_ He forced on, despite his body's protest to stop. Pushing his way through a few more vines he came to a clearing. The ground switched from the dirt path to gravel and sand. The sound of water filled his ears. He made it.

Well, he _almost_ made it.

Before he was able to get any closer it was like his body shut down and quit. His legs buckled and his vision swam and blackened again. His whole body grew weak and he couldn't walk anymore. Instinctively, he tightly shut his eyes and reached out, wishing for something to stable himself, and praying he could power through this too. Although, there was nothing to hold on to this time and he dizzily collapsed to the ground.

He wanted to get up. He wanted to keep going. He wanted to move the few more steps to the river. He knew he had to, but he was exhausted.

He tried to push himself off the ground but he didn't have enough energy left. Falling back to the ground, he gave up, slipping unconscious with only one thought in his mind.

 _'I failed.'_

* * *

"Shouldn't we 'ave reached 'em by now?" Zeb wondered aloud.

"I'm not sure how far they went. We should keep going though. We'll hopefully find them soon." Kanan replied. Kanan had a bad feeling something had gone wrong with the plan. He was just hoping _he_ was the one wrong. Honestly, he thought they would've found them by now too.

They walked about another hundred feet or so with no sign of the kids. Just as he was giving up hope, he caught a glimpse of orange out of the corner of his eye. The same color of Ezra's jumpsuit.

"Zeb!" Kanan called, signaling him to stop and quickly turning to see what it was. Sure enough, it was Ezra, lying face down in the sand.

Kanan and Zeb both ran to him. Kanan kneeled at his side and gently turned him over, propping up Ezra's shoulders onto his knee. It was alarming how warm his skin was. Zeb, seeing that Kanan had Ezra covered, checked the nearby area for Sabine. However, she was nowhere to be found. "Kanan, Sabine's missing." Zeb blurted.

"What? She's nowhere nearby?"

"No, I looked and I don't see 'er anywhere. I can check farther." Zeb suggested, about to walk off.

"No, wait, don't. We should stick together. Besides, I don't sense her. We'll have to look after."

Kanan averted his attention to examine Ezra's arm, but he couldn't see the injury very well with the sleeve in the way. To see it better, Kanan ripped Ezra's sleeve just above the wound.

It definitely didn't look good.

There were three open wounds, not very big alone but it was a decently sized wound altogether. They were very irritated and swollen, and puss was already oozing from it. (Sorry, gross I know) It looked like it was already at the early stages of infection.

"Err, he gonna be okay?" Zeb questioned, concern evident in his voice.

"I think so. We need to get this thing clean though."

If he was going have any chance of this being easy, he was going to have to try to get Ezra awake. He didn't want to start cleaning it only to have Ezra wake up suddenly thinking he was being attacked, and kick him in defense.

"Ezra," he cooed, gently tapping his shoulder. "Please wake up for me."

"5 more minutes," Ezra mumbled, shifting without opening his eyes.

"Ezra," Kanan repeated after a light snort from Zeb. "Come on wake up."

This time Ezra opened his eyes to the bright sunlight. He filched and shut his eyes at the light and slowly opened them again, leaving time to adjust. "Kanan? Zeb?" he croaked. Ezra glanced around at his surroundings. There was something important he needed to say. Something critical to...

"Sabine!" Ezra yelled as it dawned on him. All too fast he tried to sit up, only to regret it as dizziness washed over him and he nearly fell backwards.

"Woah careful. Let's just take it slow." Kanan advised, supporting Ezra as he sat up better.

"Wha' about Sabine?" Zeb asked.

"She was taken! By a... a... Okay wait before I say this I swear I haven't lost it! She was taken by a..."

"Let me guess, plant?" Kanan finished. Ezra looked shocked and confused.

"How'd you guess?"

"Same thing nearly happened to Zeb. We'll need to find out everything later. Right now, we need to worry about you and that arm. Zeb, you still have the med kit?"

Zeb nodded and handed it to him. Kanan immediately got to work, taking out clean water and alcohol to wash it out with. "This is gonna sting, sorry."

Just as Kanan said, Ezra felt a burning in his arm as soon as Kanan started cleaning it. The pain seared through his arm and he resisted the urged to yell in pain. He clenched his teeth and winced, waiting for the pain to subside. Kanan flinched in sympathy seeing the pain his padawan was in.

After cleaning it as best as he could, Kanan covered the wound in anti-bacterial ointment to help with the starting infection. Finally, he loosely covered it with a dressing and bandage, and gave Ezra a pill and some water.

"That's the best I can do for now. We need to get you back to the ship for further treatment. How do you feel? Do you think you can stand?" Kanan replied.

"Uh, fine I guess. And yeah, I think, but maybe with support." Ezra said. Zeb held a hand out to help him up. "Come on champ."

"We'll take you back to the ship and you can tell us what happened to Sabine. We can't risk you getting worse by taking you with us. You still need medical attention, this was just temporary." Kanan affirmed.

Ezra sighed. "Yeah, yeah. I got it," he muttered.

Then he remembered. He couldn't believe he didn't remember sooner. He had to tell Kanan!

"Kanan wait," Ezra looked away, eyes filled with fear and worry. Kanan and Zeb stopped confused.

"What is it?" Kanan coaxed, realizing something was wrong.

"I-it's," he paused, almost scared to say it. Taking a deep breath, he tried to find the words. "It's the force, it's...gone. I c-can't feel it anymore."

* * *

AN: Well there ya have it! How's Kanan gonna react? O.o Thanks for reading and pleaseeeee review!


	6. Chapter 6

AN: DON"T HATE MEEEEEEEEEEE. IM SOOOOO SORRY! :''( I never meant to leave anyone hanging so long, I just never had the time or content to write. Honestly, I almost completely gave up on this. BUT I didn't and I'm back! Any original readers, you're amazing, I suck, and I'm sorryyyyyyyyyy, I hope you find it in your hearts to forgive me and read it? Oh and any new readers, you rock too. ;P

* * *

Sabine was dragged a couple hundred feet before she even had the chance process everything and think. She tried to clear her head and stay calm. With quick thinking she realized that if she could reach her blaster, she could use it to blast free. The vine was wrapped tightly around her, but after some struggling, she found that she could move her arms. Of course, the range of movement was still very limited. She wiggled free enough to try to grab her blaster. It seemed nearly impossible at first but she kept trying. 'Come on, please.' She stretched her arm as far as possible, wincing at her resisting muscles. Finally she was able to grab the handle and pull it free. 'Yes!' She clung to it tightly, knuckles turning white, so that it would not slip from her grasp.

Next, she maneuvered her arm to shoot the mutant plant. It was rattling her around and she was tied up with vines, making it hard to take aim. When she finally got her arm in the right position and thought her aim was accurate enough, she fired.

The blast did nothing. "What the hell?" She shot again. Still nothing.

Throughly confused and frustrated, she blasted the stupid thing about five times in a row and it looked like it hardly did any damage to it. "What is this..!"

Sabine rapidly shot at it and after about a minute of awkward dangling and shooting, the vine finally snapped. With the sudden release, she fell to the floor ungracefully, still wrapped in the heep of vines.

Sabine quickly untangled herself and stumbled away, blaster ready, unsure of whether the cut vine would start moving again. When it didn't, she sighed of relief and observed the remains. A thick green slime oozed out from the end she blasted open, making a clumpy puddle on the ground. It was abnormal for any kind of plant to ooze like this, convincing her that this wasn't a normal plant species. She took a step closer to observe it better but stepped right into the slime still pooling around her feet. "Oh gross," she exclaimed, shaking her foot to get it off her shoe.

Wait, the mission... Ezra! She had been dragged away before they got to safety. Ezra was still out there probably worrying about her and blaming himself for what happened! She really hoped he found the others, or at least they found him. He wasn't looking too hot with her there for support and she didn't want to think about how he was without her. What if he... No, he had to be okay, she told herself. He just had to be. She couldn't afford to think otherwise. She still had to worry about getting herself out of this situation.

She tried to remain calm and figure out the next course of action. She wanted to know if Ezra was okay and knew she should find the others, but she couldn't help but be curious as to where the vine was dragging her. At this point, it was obviously some mutant creature, and it seemed to have killer instincts. 'Okay maybe killer is the wrong choice of words right now', she thought as her mind wandered back to Ezra. Anyway, it seemed to have been on a direct course for something, which didn't make much sense. She wanted answers. She could either head back now and find Ezra and the others, or hope he was okay and find out more. The thought that she could still potentially complete the mission urged her to want to continue on. Then, Ezra wouldn't have been hurt for nothing! Her curiosity got the best of her and she decided to continue in the direction that the vine was heading.

She continued straight, looking for any signs that the vine changed course or turned. After a few minutes of walking, she saw an opening in the trees up ahead. She walked closer to get a better look, peering from behind the trees. It was hard to make out what it was but it looked like a building. The factory! She took one step too many and ended up stepping in a branch, making a loud noise as it crunched under her foot. 'You've got to be kidding me.' She winced, hoping no one was around to hear it.

"Do you hear that?" Two bucket heads holding guns walked her way into the forest. "I think it came from this way."

Sabine quickly froze, watching them from behind a tree. They hadn't seen her yet. She slowly backed away, keeping them in her sights but hiding from view. "Probably just some animal. Kallus said those plants would take care of any _intruders._ " the first one said. "Yeah, those things are pretty great weapons, right? We should have thought of it sooner. Can you believe those were all made _here_ in this crummy old factory?" exclaimed the other, who sounded much too proud. After about a minute, they shrugged and turned back to the factory.

Kallus? Of course, _he_ was here. Sometimes bucket heads were so stupid. They just gave her some of the information she needed. Now she knew they were making the vines in the factory. That meant they were genetically altered and explained why they were so strong and almost intellectual. But to be honest, she was still confused. The reason they came was to destroy a new base that had important files that had to be destroyed. This factory was making _plant_ weapons? That meant this was all a set up.

She didn't have the time to explore more and risk being caught. She didn't need to be told that this had to be stopped. She was going to destroy the factory and everything in it.

* * *

Kanan stared with wide eyes filled with shock and worry at what Ezra just told him. So his suspicions were true. "You can't feel it? At all?"

Ezra shook his head. "It's like it's gone. I... W-what's wrong with me?" Ezra took a step back. What if he lost the force forever? What if his bond with Kanan was gone? What if the crew kicked him out because he wasn't useful anymore?

Kanan could still feel the anxiety coming from him. In reality, he had no idea what to do, but he knew he had to say calm for Ezra's sake. "Ezra, whatever it is, it's not your fault. I'll do everything I can to help as soon as we get things in order. We'll figure this out. It's going to be okay."

Ezra felt weird and different, almost lost, without it. It was strange and ironic really. Most of his life he had no idea what the force was or that he was somehow connected to it. However, now that it was gone, it felt like a part of him died. But yeah, Kanan was right. They'd figure this out and it'd be okay, he tried to convince himself.

"Yeah okay, let's just get back to the Ghost and worry about it later then..."

They continued walking but the silence allowed for his mind to wonder again. Now Ezra couldn't stop thinking about Sabine. He should have tried harder to help her. The more he thought about it, the more he realized how little he tried. It was almost like he just stood there and watched her struggle. He should have run after her or something! Without realizing, he started walking slower in his distracted state.

"Come on kid, we're almost there." Kanan said, noticing he was lagging behind.

Before Ezra could respond, a loud explosion thundered throughout the forest. The ground shook and there was a puff of smoke rising into the air to their right.

"Sabine!" everyone shouted in unison.

"Kanan! That has to be her! We have to go find her!" Ezra shouted, turning to run towards the source of the explosion. Kanan grabbed his arm before he could take off. "Ezra no, we need to get you back to the ship. You're in no condition to continue."

"But Kanan, this may be our only lead to finding her. If we head that way, I just know we can find her somewhere in the middle. We know the direction she's in now! If we pass up this opportunity, she might not find her way back to the ship and we might not find her. It's our best chance! It's my fault, I should have done something to help her. Now is my chance to fix this. I'll be fine." Ezra defended.

"Ezra," Kanan warned. "If anything happens to you it'll be on me. I can't let you injure yourself farther."

"But Kanan...! We can't split up and we can't go back to the ship and lose our only lead on her!"

"I hate it when your right," Kanan sighed knowing he wasn't going to win against his stubborn padawan. "Fine, lets go."

They headed quickly in the direction of the smoke, adrenaline pumping through Ezra's veins. They were going to find her.

* * *

Running. All Sabine could do was keep running. It was thrilling and slightly terrifying at the same time. She blew up the factory, a few TIEs, and destroyed all of the empire's progress. Things were kind of looking up for once.

Well of course they would be better if she wasn't being blasted at from the behind. She dodged another blaster shot, thinking of a plan to lose them.

To buy some time she swung herself around a tree and stunned a few troopers with her own blaster. She considered another one of her "miracles" to help her to get away, but realized it was probably a terrible idea. It would give her position away for more troopers to follow after her and she was around far too many trees. An explosion would get out of hand.

So running it is.

At least she thought the surroundings were somewhat familiar. She thought she was heading in the right direction to the Ghost.

* * *

The sound of blaster shots was heard in the distance, telling the three crew members they were heading in the right direction. Sabine wasn't far and it sounded like she could use a hand out of her situation. They prepared themselves for a small fight.

As predicted, Sabine practically ran into them. Relief took over her expression and she smiled at them. "Hey guys, glad you made it."

"Glad we found you." Ezra grinned. "Let's finish this and finally leave this horrible planet." Both he and Kanan ignited their lightsabers, deflecting what they could, running towards the ship.

Zeb took out the spare com he brought from the Ghost. "Hera, get the Ghost ready, we're going need a quick take off."

After what felt like an eternity of fending off blasts, the crew finally reached the ship. Ezra sighed in relief, realizing how tired he really was after everything that happened and the journey back. The adrenaline from the mission was beginning to wear off and his body felt much heavier.

Hera was ready for them and the ramp was open. They ran inside, still being followed by stray buck heads. The second they all stepped on the ramp, Hera took off. Safely inside, everyone stopped for a moment, panting to finally catch their breaths. Hera made the jump into hyperspace and met them up front.

"Well, I guess that was nice work out there everyone. The factory may not have had the information we thought it had and it may have been a trap... _But_ Sabine destroyed their experiments and we all got out alive. I'd say that's a small success." Kanan stated.

Hera offered a small laugh. "I'm glad you're all okay. Ezra, how're you feeling? We should get you to the med bay."

The crew averted all their attention to the youngest crew member.

Ezra slightly embarrassed by the attention and too weak to argue nodded. "Yeah, sure, med bay."

They walked until they came across the dreaded door to the med bay. Honestly, Ezra hated it, but hey, how many people actually like needles, blood tests, stitches and all the like. The door slid open automatically and the first thing Ezra saw was the bed. Well maybe the med bay wasn't all bad. All he wanted to do was curl up and sleep for days.

Kanan walked in with Ezra and Hera right behind. "Sit," He ordered his padawan. "You don't have to ask me twice," Ezra yawned and plopped onto the bed.

Kanan turned to the cabinet and pulled out a few items that Ezra couldn't make out. He placed them on a tray. Hera stood by, putting together what looked like an IV bag. "Here, take these and carefully put them on," Kanan said handing him an teeshirt and baggy sweat pants. Ezra did as told, slowly sliding his sleeve over the wound before taking the shirt off and a easing on the new one. He then changed into the comfortable looking pants. After changing he fell back onto the bed exhausted. "It feels like I haven't slept in years." He groaned falling on his back and closing his eyes momentarily.

"Come on kid, stay with me for now. We need to do a few tests and bandage you up properly before you can sleep. We're going to have you stay in here the night though." Kanan stated.

Ezra sighed opening his eyes to look at him, "Figured as much." He slowly sat back up, wincing in pain. His muscles felt stiff and ached. "Uh, what kind of tests?" He questioned meekly.

"Just a blood test and such," Kanan said calmly, obviously hiding something. This wasn't comforting to Ezra in the slightest.

"Ahem," Hera cleared her throat, quickly shooting Kanan a glare before turning around. She stepped over to Ezra with a tray of medical supplies. "Can I have your arm?" Ezra raised it to her and she took it gently, inspecting the wound.

There was no doubt that this was from those plants. The space between the three puncture wounds were too even to be anything else. Hera took the supplies and worked on cleaning it out. A painful burning sensation shot through his arm, but he had mentally prepared himself as it was to be expected. He winced it pain nonetheless. When Hera was done throughly cleaning it, she put some kind of cream or ointment that Ezra didn't recognize. He guessed to help with the minor infection that started. Finally, she bandaged it up securely.

Now, Kanan moved over and took his other arm. "I'm just taking a blood test, don't worry." Normally Ezra would care... A lot... But he was too tired to complain. Instead he just nodded tiredly. Kanan did his thing and Ezra whined at the pain. "Now both my arms hurt," he mumbled.

Kanan couldn't help but give a small sympathetic smile. He could tell how much pain he was in. "Sorry kid. We are going to give you some pain medication and an IV to keep you hydrated and flush out whatever entered your bloodstream. We can do that and then you have my permission to sleep."

Those words were all he wanted to hear. Ezra got under the warm covers and laid down. Kanan took his arm to put in the IV. When that was done, Ezra was finally able to lie down. Almost the second he hit the pillow, he was asleep.

"Goodnight kid."

With Ezra asleep Kanan and Hera moved on to do some of the testing. They needed to figure out what kind of thing was injected into him. Taking the blood sample, they put it into a machine that would read the contents. If there was a poison, the machine would detect it and figure out it components. It only takes about ten minutes but they knew it would seem like hours to them. The second they placed the sample into the machine, everything seemed to stop. All that was left now was to wait for the results.


	7. Chapter 7

I don't think I can apologize enough for my total absence for so long. I had honestly given up but thanks to a few people, especially MickeyTRN, I was somehow encouraged to try and finish this story. A lot of it is now outdated, but I'm going to finish it how I was trying to when I started. Thanks so much for reading and please review.

* * *

Kanan and Hera sat down in silence, awaiting the results. Both were trying to convince themselves the same thing: this whole situation was just a minor setback. The poison could be remedied and everything would be fine within a few hours. The results would tell them that the worst case scenario, it was easily cured plant poison. They could just treat it tonight and everything would be fine in a couple of days. Ezra would be completely back to normal in no time.

However, they couldn't help but think of the worse possibilities. When they had gotten back, Kanan had explained to Hera the situation of Ezra's inability to use the force. The two realized the high probability that it was caused by the poison.

The click of the machine printing the results startled the two from their antagonizing thoughts. It was finally the moment of truth. They both shot out of their seats as the machine finished printing. Instantly, Kanan grabbed the paper before Hera could. He read it over to himself and froze."Kanan?" Hera's voice wavered. No response. "Let me see!" Hera bolted towards him to see the paper. Kanan side stepped her attempt to see it, maintaining eye contact with the paper alone. "Please Kanan, let me see. What is it?" She pried desperately. Slowly he lifted his eyes in defeat to meet hers, and held the paper out to her. She took it and read the results herself. Her eyes widened the minute she read it over. Their suspicions were confirmed.

Force suppressant.

Kanan was worried this was the case ever since he stopped feeling Ezra's force signature. He was hoping the reason for not sensing Ezra before was just that he hadn't been focusing properly or Ezra was somehow shutting him out for some reason. But he ignored his nagging instinct that told him this wasn't the case. The result paper had the dreaded truth, printed in bold black ink. The poison matched the content know in the highly illegal and dangerous force suppressant. It was an extremely rare poison the empire made almost a decade ago. It was supposedly wiped from existence, but Kanan knew there were still rumors that it was floating around the black market. But along with matching the original suppressant, the contents seemed to have been altered. It had all the components of the original but there seemed to be a new foreign substance added.

The original suppressant usually only lasted a week, a month, or in few cases longer, depending on how much was given and the force wielder themself. Some were more force sensitive than others, causing it not to last as long. But this new serum written on the paper in front of them was different. It had an added substance.

Normally in the past, once the force suppressant had left the system, the person would be able to use the force once again. But this was no longer the case. The new added chemical seemed to make the poison attach itself to the blood cells. In other words, this implied that the force suppressant wouldn't pass or just go away as quickly this time.

There was also no knowing the side effects that would come with it.

This poison was in _his_ padawan, coursing through his bloodstream that very second. There was no knowing as to when or if he would able to use the force again. The only options were to wait it out or to find a cure, the latter being preferable.

Hera was the first to break the silence. "Kanan, we don't know if it will last that long. He could be lucky and have it pass quickly out of his system. He's a tough kid. And if not, we _will_ find a cure."

Kanan was staring at Ezra. His eyes were dull and vacant, seeming to have lost all light, and Hera could tell he was not longer listening. "Kanan, hey, listen to me." She grabbed his arm to make him face her. However, he yanked his arm free then walked out of the med bay without a word. Hera quickly followed him but he had already turned the corner. "Kanan!" She called, but he kept walking. He reached his room and locked the door before she could stop him. "Kanan come out, we are going to figure this out, but I need your help. Ezra needs you!" Hera begged.

The sound caught the attention of the other crew members who were desperately waiting to see if Ezra was okay. Sabine and Zeb peered from the common room, trying to figure out what was going on. A loud crash was heard from behind Kanan's door, followed by a loud bang of what seemed to be Kanan kicking what he knocked over. A frustrated yell came seconds later.

"Kanan! Come out before you hurt yourself! Stop blaming yourself, because I know that's what you're doing! None of it is your fault no matter what you think! You need to come out so we can figure this out! For Ezra!" Hera yelled.

After about a minute, the door slid open. Kanan stood there with balled up fists, looking down gravely. "I'm... sorry... I just..." Hera cut him off, enveloping him in a hug.

"Look, it's okay. I know. Let's just go figure this out., for your padawan."

"Right..." He nodded seriously, taking a deep breath to calm himself. He really needed to mediate but right now, especially after that outburst, but he wouldn't be able to focus. He sighed, feeling helpless and foolish for getting angry like that. Hera put a reassuring hand on his shoulder, causing him to feel a little better. The two noticed Zeb and Sabine standing there and waved them to follow them back to the common room. It was finally time to explain everything to them. They had been forbidden from entering the med bay before because Hera didn't need them just yet and didn't want them in the way.

The four arrived at the common room and quickly took their seats in silence. The two hung on every word as Hera began to speak. "I know you guys must be worried sick about Ezra and want to know his current condition. Fortunately, he only received a minor wound on his arm from the plant and despite the minor infection should be fine. He had a very slight fever before but right now we have a fever reducer that seems to be working. He'll probably be weak and tired for a while but as long as he rests and we treat the minor infection from the injury on his arm, he should be almost back to his normal self." Hera said, stressing the word almost.

"Almost? What do you mean by that? Why just almost?" Sabine worried.

Zeb narrowed his eyes. "What aren't you tellin' us?"

Hera sighed and looked pleadingly at Kanan. Kanan decided to speak up this time. "The problem is the poison injected by that plant." He started, gaining the full attention of the two when he said 'problem'. "Well, it is apparent that the empire created the plants as a weapon, and the whole factory was a trap for us to fall in. The plants had a poison that had a force suppressant somehow mixed in it. When Ezra was injected with the poison, he got the suppressant injected into his bloodstream."

Sabine's expression quickly changed from worry to shock. "Wait, so he... he actually can't use the force?" Sabine stammered, suddenly remembering Ezra's panic when he woke up after passing out.

"As of right now, no. Normally it could be cleared out of a person's system quickly, and the ability to use the force would return. However, this time it seems the empire found a chemical to make it bond to the blood cells. There is a chance it can pass on it's own but we cannot tell how long that could take." Kanan paused before adding, "Also, there is a possibility that without a cure, I'm afraid he may never use the force again."

She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Never use the force again...? It was her fault! If she hadn't been so stubborn and got into a pointless fight and wasn't so distracted, Ezra wouldn't have been hurt. She should have noticed the plant before it had a chance to actually inject its poison! She ignored him and didn't even realize he was hurt at first. How could she be so ignorant!

"Sabine," Kanan said reassuringly, "you can't blame yourself just because you were with him. We will figure out a way to cure him. There is nothing you could have done to stop it. No one foresaw this happening, so don't feel like it's your fault."

In reality, he thought he was at fault for what happened. He wished he could have paid more attention and realized the whole thing was a trap sooner. He wished he looked closer into who gave them the mission. He wished he hadn't split them up the way he did. He wished...he wished...he wished... But no matter how much he wished, he couldn't change what happened. All he could do was push on and try to fix it. There was no time to succumb to guilt.

"So, how can we find a cure?" Zeb questioned.

Sabine suddenly stood up, a look of pure panic in her eyes. "Oh god! I blew up the factory! The one place that could have contained a cure or samples! How are we going to get it now?"

"Well the best place to start would be by getting a sample of the poison or the plant. If we have a sample of poison, then we can do experimenting until we find a cure. We may not be able to get one from the factory but we can figure something out," Hera spoke rationally. Sabine blew up the factory already and there was nothing they could do to change it now. "We can scavenge the wreckage. There might be something that isn't destroyed. If necessary, we will hunt down one of those plant creatures. We'd need to be extremely careful, but we have a few options so don't panic. And it's still not your fault."

Sabine sat back down slowly, eyes focused on the ground. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay. Come on, let's not give up hope already. I know we all want to find this cure as soon as possible, but we should get some sleep first. We can't do anything now, so let's be rested for tomorrow. We can figure out what the plan is in the morning."

They all nodded and got up to part ways. Kanan wanted to go back to the med bay to stay with Ezra but he had to fix the things he knocked over in his room and probably mediate first. Hera went back to the cock pit to distract and calm herself a little because she was still too stressed to sleep. Zeb went to the fresher, planning to shower.

Sabine couldn't even think about sleep yet. Her mind was a wreck of regret, guilt, worry, and something she couldn't place. A weird new feeling.  
She found herself subconsciously walking through the halls, her mind trying to work out her emotions. Without even realizing she had been heading to it, she found herself in front of the med bay. She stared at the door a moment before deciding to open it. When it slid open, she saw Ezra, soundly sleeping on the bed. Moving quietly so as not to disturb him, Sabine decided to pull up a chair next to his bed. She never realized how much she cared about him. She grabbed his hand and held it in both hands and glanced at his face. He looked peaceful in his sleeping state. Her mind finally calmed down when she realized he was going to be okay, at least for now, and she realized how tired she really was.

Leaning against the bed, she closed her eyes for a moment. Although she didn't mean to, she drifted to sleep, her hand still closed around Ezra's.


End file.
